Never Have I Ever
SynopsisPlot
“Am I dead?” Mebuyen sighs. She was hoping the girl would not ask. Spells and stories, urban legends and immigrant tales: the magic in Isabel Yap’s debut collection jumps right off the page, from the friendship and fear building in “A Canticle for Lost Girls” to the joy in “A Spell for Foolish Hearts” to the terrifying tension of the urban legend “Have You Heard the One About Anamaria Marquez.”
Story
About this book
Never Have I Ever is a debut short story collection by Filipino author Isabel Yap. The stories draw on Philippine folklore, urban legends, and the experience of living between cultures. Characters encounter supernatural figures from local tradition, navigate spells tied to schoolyard emotions, and face the particular dread that comes from stories passed mouth to mouth. The collection opens with a scene in which a girl asks a spirit whether she is dead, setting a tone that moves between tenderness and unease.
Several of the stories are set in the Philippines, while others follow Filipino characters abroad, carrying familiar myths into unfamiliar cities. Yap's subjects range from childhood friendships tested by danger to the loneliness of immigrant life to retellings shaped by creatures and spirits specific to Philippine storytelling. Individual pieces shift in register: some lean toward horror, others toward quiet fantasy or emotional realism. The book was named a finalist for the World Fantasy Award.
Among the collected works are pieces such as A Canticle for Lost Girls, A Spell for Foolish Hearts, and Have You Heard the One About Anamaria Marquez, each built around a different strand of fear, affection, or suspense.
